Before she knows God, she knows Dad
Every summer, we get to celebrate the first love of every girl: her father. Before she knows what love is, before she has language for it, a daughter is learning it from him. The way he looks at her. The way he stays. The way he shows up on the hard days and the ordinary ones.
Long before she sits in a pew and hears about a God who is steadfast and faithful, she has already been given a picture of what that looks like — or she hasn’t. The difference between those two things will follow her for the rest of her life.
That steady, faithful presence inspired something in me that his illness could not take from him.
Living standard
The role of fatherhood, particularly to daughters, is one of the weightiest callings a man has. A father is his daughter’s first introduction to unconditional love, her first model of strength and gentleness working together. The world provides little girls with countless stories about knights in shining armor and perfectly orchestrated Hollywood romance. It is easy for those fictional portraits to slowly become the standard by which real love gets measured.
But a dad has a more powerful opportunity than any fairytale can offer. He can step into his daughter’s life as the living standard, the real man who shows her what it means to be fully known and fully cherished.
When she is old enough to hear that God loves her as a Father, she will reach for the nearest frame of reference she has. For better or worse, that frame is you, Dad.
Dad's darling
I often think about my own dad, Norm Haverkos, who spent more than 40 years living with multiple sclerosis. By the time I was in grade school, he couldn’t walk without falling. Eventually, he couldn’t walk at all.
What he could do, and chose to do, every single day was show up. Growing up, I followed my dad around just to be near him. My sister would tease me about it and call me “Dad’s darling.” I never denied it. I was his love, and he was mine.
Despite his illness, my father never made it an excuse to step back from his duties to his children. Confined to a wheelchair, he still found ways to be present: in our garage workshop as we refinished antiques on winter afternoons, in the stands at whatever event we were part of, in the confusing seasons when I simply needed him nearby.
He refused to let his limitations hold him back. He was a tender shepherd to our family, guiding us not in the typical way the world portrays strength, but in a way that demonstrated faithfulness. A shepherd doesn’t lead from the front because he’s the strongest. He leads because he refuses to leave. That was Norm Haverkos. He led us, carried us, and loved us, despite his fleeting mortality.
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The grace to guide
That steady, faithful presence inspired something in me that his illness could not take from him. He helped me understand a God who does not abandon His children when life gets difficult. Like any father, my dad was not perfect, but he was present. And in his presence, I found my worth. Eventually, I found my way to the One whose love my father’s had been pointing toward all along.
The weight of the calling each father carries is heavy. But each dad can be equipped with the grace to carry it. You do not have to be a perfect man to be a faithful one. You do not have to have all the answers or feel whole. If you haven’t given it your best yet, there is mercy and forgiveness to start fresh, and start today.
Sacred calling
Norm Haverkos was not flawless — not physically, not always emotionally — and yet the mark he left on my life ultimately shaped tens of thousands of girls I would go on to serve. That is the math of faithful fatherhood. It multiplies in ways you will never fully see.
To every father reading this: Your daughter is watching. She is learning who God is by watching who you are. She is building her worldview on the foundation of your presence in her life. That is a sacred calling, and it is not too late to honor it.
Be the kind of man she can’t help but follow around. Be the kind of man who makes her a darling, not of her father only, but of her Father in heaven.
'He's going to hell': Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick accuses Talarico of campaigning against God
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) broached the subjects of God and damnation in his remarks on Friday to the 2026 Republican Party of Texas State Convention, characterizing Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico as a radical blasphemer in desperate need of prayer.
Preempting possible criticism by the media over his discussion of Jesus and "standing up for God," Patrick noted that "it's James Talarico who decided to bring the Bible into this election — and let me tell you, that's not a Bible I've ever read. I've never seen so much blasphemy from anyone running for office."
'That's the darkness.'
Democrat state Rep. James Talarico is a part-time Presbyterian seminarian who has, among other things,
- attempted to use Scripture to justify abortion;
- preached at a leftist church that regards abortion as a "blessing";
- protested the public display of the Ten Commandments;
- attributed the beginning of the "story of Jesus" to an "extraordinary act of feminism";
- fought to keep the Bible out of schools;
- characterized curricula that "elevate[s] Christianity over the other major world religions" as "deeply un-Christian";
- concern-mongered about traditional Christian views;
- voted against sparing kids from sex-rejection mutilations and claimed there are six sexes.
Talarico has desperately attempted in recent weeks to adopt a less radical, less effeminate persona. In addition to posing with meat — after having previously clutched pearls over animal welfare and the impact of meat consumption on "climate change" — he recently walked back some of his more provocative theological claims.
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In a 2021 speech protesting legislation that prevents male athletes from playing on girls' K-12 school sports teams, Talarico stated, "God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between; God is nonbinary."
In an interview last month, Talarico called some of his previous religious statements "cringey comments" that were "meant to be deliberately provocative."
Lt. Gov. Patrick evidently isn't buying what Talarico is selling, stating on Friday, "Let me tell you what, I'm going to pray for that guy because when he loses the Senate race, if he campaigns against God as he's been doing, he's going to hell for sure. That's what we're up against. That's the darkness."
Talarico responded to Patrick on X, writing, "For decades, Dan Patrick has sold out the poor, the sick, and the vulnerable to enrich his donors. Love feels like blasphemy when you worship power."
Paxton recently stated that his Democratic opponent — whom he has referred to as "Tofu Talarico" and "Low-T Talarico" — "is a threat to our values, our way of life, and the future of Texas."
A pair of recent polls indicate that the race is unnervingly close. While Paxton was up 45%-43% in a recent Quantus Insights poll, the two candidates were dead even in a Siena University poll earlier this month.
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The Trinity answers the Bible’s central question
One of the most common objections to Christianity is simple: The word “Trinity” does not appear in the Bible. If that is true, why do Christians believe it?
Christians believe the Trinity because it is the inevitable conclusion of what Scripture teaches about God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
The doctrine of the Trinity is therefore not an arbitrary invention. Nor is it a concession to polytheism. It is precisely the opposite: a refutation of polytheism.
The story begins in Genesis.
The Jewish Scriptures, what Christians call the Old Testament, taught something unique among the religions of the ancient world. Pagan nations treated their gods as physical beings within the universe. Israel taught that God created the heavens and the earth. God was not part of the system. He brought the system into existence.
God is therefore not made of matter, not located at one point in space, and not one deity among many. He alone existed from eternity. Everything else had a beginning.
Israel was repeatedly tempted to compromise with the polytheistic religions around it. Time after time, the prophets called the nation back to the worship of the one true God. Through Isaiah, God declared, “I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God” (Isaiah 45:5).
The God of Israel was understood to be eternal, immaterial, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, and perfectly good. These are not properties material deities could possess.
That raises an obvious question. If Christians inherited this uncompromising belief in one God, how did they arrive at the doctrine of the Trinity?
John opens his Gospel with these words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
John then tells us that all things were made through the Word. The Word is distinguished from God, yet the Word is also called God. John 1:3 says all created things came into existence through Him. If all created things were made through the Word, then the Word Himself cannot belong to the class of created things.
Then John tells us, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). The eternal Son of God became incarnate as Jesus Christ.
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The New Testament repeatedly presents the same pattern. At Jesus’ baptism, the Son stands in the water, the Spirit descends as a dove, and the Father speaks from heaven. The three are clearly distinguished from one another, yet elsewhere in Scripture the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each identified as God.
Jesus commanded His disciples to baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Baptism is done in the name of God. Paul gives a Trinitarian benediction in 2 Corinthians 13:14. Jesus, the Lamb of God, sits on the throne of God.
Jesus also claimed an existence that preceded Abraham: “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). His words echo the divine name revealed to Moses. The Jews understood the implication and tried to stone Him for blasphemy. Elsewhere, they accused Him of making Himself equal with God.
Scripture also attributes personal qualities to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit teaches, speaks, guides, gives life, and can be grieved. He is not merely an impersonal force.
The early Christians therefore found themselves committed to three truths taught by Scripture:
- There is only one God.
- The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.
- The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct from one another.
Deny any one of those truths, and you contradict the Bible.
Over the first several centuries, as pagan polytheists converted to Christianity or challenged it, the church debated how best to explain the doctrine of God from Scripture.
The Gnostics denied that Jesus was truly incarnate. They taught that He was a spirit who only appeared human. In doing so, they denied the incarnation.
Another early controversy involved Sabellius, who taught what later became known as modalism. According to this view, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are merely different manifestations of the same divine person.
The church rejected this because Scripture repeatedly distinguishes the Father, Son, and Spirit from one another.
Then came Arius, who taught that the Father alone is eternal and that the Son is the first and greatest creature.
As Christians reflected on the biblical evidence, the church clarified its teaching: The Father is eternally unbegotten. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father. The Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and, in Western theology, from the Father and the Son.
The doctrine can be summarized simply: God is one “what” — one divine essence — and three “whos” — three distinct persons.
The church eventually summarized the biblical teaching as one God in three persons. Not one God and three gods. Not one person appearing in three forms. One God, three persons.
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The doctrine of the Trinity is therefore not an arbitrary invention. Nor is it a concession to polytheism. It is precisely the opposite: a refutation of polytheism. The doctrine preserves the full teaching of Scripture and answers the questions Scripture itself forces us to ask about God.
What is striking is how often modern religious movements that spin off from Christianity repeat ancient errors. Some deny the full deity of Christ, as Arius did. Others collapse the distinctions among the persons, as Sabellius did. Still others deny Christ’s full humanity or full deity. Some even teach polytheistic material gods.
What has united Christians across denominations and centuries is their shared commitment to the biblical doctrine of God. By contrast, new religious movements often claim allegiance to Scripture while introducing another authority that corrects, supplements, or supersedes it.
When Jesus called people to believe in Him, He did not require them to master centuries of theological debate. But neither did He leave them free to invent their own Jesus. They were to believe true things about Him and reject false things about Him.
A person may sincerely use the name “Jesus” while holding beliefs about Him that contradict the Jesus revealed in Scripture. The issue is not sincerity but identity. Not, “What do I feel?” but, “What does the Bible say?”
The question is whether the Jesus a person believes in is the Jesus revealed in the Bible or a Jesus drawn from some other source.
The church’s long debates about the Trinity were not abstract philosophical exercises. They were answers to the most important question any person can ask: Who is Jesus Christ in the Bible?
Mind the gap: How the London Underground's simple warning can help us find our way to heaven
"Mind the gap."
British trains broadcast this recorded warning to passengers about to board, reminding them to avoid stumbling into the space between the station platform and the train.
The Bible explains how this one act of sacrificial love built a beautiful bridge over that infinitely large gap between you and your Creator.
But there’s a much bigger gap — a bottomless chasm of a gap — that we also desperately need to mind.
It’s the gap between us and the wholly holy God who made us.
I know. You don’t believe in a “sky daddy.” Or you do, but you prefer to avoid thinking about the ramifications of being a creation and not the Creator.
Either way, you know that you’re broken. Perhaps you rationalize your unhappiness by telling yourself the fiction that we are all just random bits of tissue, evolved from primordial ooze.
But telling yourself there is no meaning to life does not mean there is no meaning to life. You’ve just not grasped it yet.
And you can’t. Not on your own.
But again, that doesn’t mean the answers are not there. You’re just reluctant to look in the right place.
The answer you don’t want to hear
Yep, it’s the Bible. The beautiful story of who created you, and what He created you for.
Of course, you could start by just looking around — at the magnificent beauty in the world, at the unfathomable greatness of the cosmos, of the meticulously designed intricacies of the human body, of the irreducible complexity of the tiniest organism — and ask yourself honestly, is this really all random?
The people who insist that is the case are the most effective gaslighters in history. Because you’re being gaslit when someone tells you to ignore what you can plainly see with your own eyes.
And when you open your eyes to that, you have to wrestle with the existence of a Creator. And that’s when you should consider opening that Bible.
It explains how a loving, wholly holy God created people, not robots. They were and are free to choose. The first people chose wrong. Like we all would have, had we been the first. God was not surprised by this. After all, He’s God. He had a plan all along.
Why did He choose to do it this way? I don’t know. I’m not God. Neither are you.
But as He is holy and perfect and we are not, doing wrong put a permanent, uncrossable, gaping chasm between Him, the holy, and us, the unholy. We don’t have a way to reach Him.
And yet — He created us to be in relationship with Him. That’s a longing we all have, to be in relationship with our Creator, but we stifle it or tell ourselves it’s nonsense until we can’t even hear the little voice that tried to point us in the right direction.
The good news ...
And now we come to the good news, or gospel (which literally means "good news" in Greek). This part is in the Bible too, as it was, as I said, God’s plan all along.
Jesus, who is God, came to Earth. He allowed Himself to be crucified. And He rose again, as was witnessed by hundreds of people. He is alive now. He is still God.
The Bible explains how this one act of sacrificial love built a beautiful bridge over that infinitely large gap between you and your Creator. Your broken relationship with God has been permanently repaired.
So all that’s required to mind the gap is to access that beautiful bridge.
And that’s really quite simple. The Bible shows us the path, countless times.
In Acts 16, we’re told that the authorities had jailed the apostle Paul and his companion Silas for preaching that gospel, and God miraculously caused an earthquake to break open the jail doors and unshackle the prisoners. The jailer awoke, saw the open prison doors, and drew a sword to kill himself, believing his two prisoners had escaped. But Paul yelled to him that they were still there. The jailer rushed in: “And trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' And they said, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved'” (Act 16:29-31).
Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. That’s it. Faith in Jesus as Lord means you are saved from eternal separation from the Creator (hell) and rightly aligns you as who you were created to be.
Simple, but rich with meaning. Note the language. We are to believe in the Lord Jesus.
... and how to take it
Consider also (boldface mine):
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
"If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).
Many beliefs move a person closer to God. Acknowledging that there IS a God is a start. So is acknowledging that Jesus lived, died, and even rose again. But you can intellectually come to believe the second part of that passage (believe God raised Him from the dead) without confessing Jesus as Lord — because if someone is your Lord, by definition you submit to Him.
Make no mistake, God is already in authority over you. But He doesn’t force anyone to submit to Him. As James points out, even the demons know that Jesus is God, but they don’t willingly submit to Him (James 2:19). You have been granted the same freedom to reject Him as Lord and be your own god.
Millions choose that path. But the fact is, there is only one bridge to God — that bridge forged by Christ’s loving sacrifice on the cross.
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Only one way
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me'” (John 14:6).
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Don’t be misled. Any path that doesn’t involve walking over this bridge will not mind the gap. It is instead a path that will leave you without God for eternity.
It’s so easy to take a wrong turn. That’s why the gospel is such good news, that fulfills every need you have with a plethora of blessings.
What prizes await
When you accept the free gift offered through faith in the Lord Jesus, His grace transforms you.
And that moment of transformation is YOUR life’s pivot point. Kind of like the best Christmas morning you could ever have, because all at once you get to unwrap all these gifts:
- The gift of faith, as we are granted the ability to believe the truth.
- The gift of repentance, as we begin the pivot away from our old life (aka, begin to sin less).
- The gift of justification, which means our accounts are settled with God. The price has been paid for every sin we have ever committed or will commit. Paid in full. Done. (Spoiler: Christians will still sin. See “sanctification” below.)
- The gift of salvation, as we are welcomed into His eternal family and rescued from the domain of darkness. We are now His children.
- The gift of relationship, as we are granted personal, unquestioned access to the God of the universe (in the Old Testament, only the high priest could access the “Holy of Holies” aka God; now we all can, as we are welcome to pray at any time).
- The gift of the Holy Spirit within you. God comes to live in you.
- The gift of sanctification, which means we will grow more and more like Him as we learn more and more of Him through His word. And the more we are like Him, the more we will burn with a desire to do for Him whatever He has gifted and called us to do. We are invited to come alongside Him and build His kingdom, which is the greatest adventure any of us could undertake.
So now you know how to access the bridge that will mind the gap, once and for all.
Whether you take that path is the most important decision of your life. God will not force you into His presence. But in His love, He has provided a simple choice you can make to live with your Creator now and for eternity.
If you choose wrong ... mind the gap, my friend.
Is God sending bluebirds to Christian influencers?
As more Christian influencers on social media claim to receive signs from God in the form of symbols from the world, BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey is urging believers to exercise discernment.
While Stuckey believes that the intention and anxiety behind asking God for a sign is “natural and understandable,” she notes that “when we get into this mode of asking for God, for some particular natural sign ... from the world, then we can actually foster more anxiety and more confusion.”
“Not only within ourselves, but also with the people that we influence,” she adds.
One social media influencer asked God for a sign in the form of a bluebird on a window sill, breaking down in tears as she recalled the story on her Instagram.
“She asked God for a bluebird sign, landing on the window sill, to indicate whether or not she should write a book,” Stuckey comments, pointing out that the sign of the bluebird has become very popular on social media.
“I do think it’s interesting that in a span of just a couple of months, all of these Christian creators happen to see bluebirds they claim as a sign from God. And they are encouraging others, some of them, to ask God for similar signs,” she says.
And while Stuckey urges believers to exercise caution, she does point out that there are examples in Scripture of asking God for signs.
“If we look at Genesis 24, Abraham’s servant prayed for a clear sign while searching for a wife for Isaac. He asked that the right woman would not only give him a drink, but also offer to water his camels. And Rebecca did exactly that,” Stuckey explains.
“And then Moses in Exodus 3–4 expressed doubt when God called him at the burning bush to lead Israel. In response, God gave him three confirmatory signs to show the people: his staff turning into a snake and back, his hand becoming leprous and then healed, and the Nile turning to blood when poured on dry ground,” she continues.
While these examples are clear indicators that it’s OK to ask God for a sign, Stuckey points out that Scripture also “warns against demanding them or asking God for them in order for Him to confirm His character or to confirm His will for you, especially when it stems from unbelief or a hardened heart.”
“I think when our theology is being influenced by New Age culture, we are in as much trouble as ancient Israel was when they were being influenced by outside pagan nations,” she explains.
“It is possible for this to really hurt our mind and our heart and our soul if that is what we’re doing,” she adds.
Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?
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MS NOW's Katy Tur humiliates herself trying to shame Mike Johnson for attributing rights to God
Thousands of Americans gathered Sunday on the National Mall for Rededicate 250 — an event aimed not only at preparing the United States for its 250th birthday with prayer, Scripture, and song but also recommitting America to uniting as "one nation, under god."
House Speaker Mike Johnson, among those who addressed the multitudes, led believers in a prayer of rededication.
'Quoting the Declaration of Independence is now putting God over the Declaration of Independence, I guess?'
In his prayer, Johnson noted that God's "mighty hand has been upon our nation since the very beginning"; that God is the source of America's many blessings; and that America is a nation premised on biblical and foundational principles.
Johnson also emphasized twice in the prayer that Americans' inalienable rights derive from the Creator.
In the second instance, the Republican stated that individuals captive to "sinister ideologies" have "sought to distort the self-evident truth that we know so well and that our founders boldly proclaim in the Declaration: that our rights do not derive from the government. They come from you, our Creator and heavenly Father."
MS NOW talking head Katy Tur evidently had difficulty processing the ancient and self-evident truth that rights aren't sourced from men or their documents but from the Divine.
"What about this passage from Mike Johnson declaring that our rights do not derive from government? 'They come from you, our Creator and heavenly Father,'" Tur said on Monday to panelists on her show. "Is this him putting God over the Declaration of Independence?"
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The very document that Tur apparently fears being subordinated to the Creator states in its preamble, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
One of Tur's panelists, Atlantic writer McKay Coppins, responded by noting that the "idea" that man's rights come from God "is not wholly uncommon" and not "totally abnormal."
Tur subsequently suggested that Johnson's remarks, in the "context of this rally," signal "the move toward Christian nationalism being more embedded in this culture." She added that "the idea that the rights divine, or are divined from a higher power — you can say that across multiple religions, yes, but this is not representing multiple religions."
Tur's attempt to concern-monger over Johnson's statements prompted swift backlash and mockery from conservatives and others familiar with the Declaration of Independence.
Sean Davis, co-founder of the Federalist, wrote, "Unreal. Literal retards."
Texas state Rep. Mitch Little (R) tweeted, "Quoting the Declaration of Independence is now putting God over the Declaration of Independence, I guess? Someone run to the gift shop and get Katy a copy, pls."
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz expressed confusion about how Tur could "be so historically ignorant."
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